The Shoal Creek or Indian Creek reservoir would serve the Joplin area. The Crane Creek reservoir would serve the Springfield area. Both Joplin and Springfield are key players and significant financial contributors to the coalition. The reservoirs would provide raw water for wholesale distribution to all communities with a stake in the project.

But construction is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Members of the coalition, including relatively young ones, joke that they will not live long enough to see a reservoir built because of all of the permits and approvals that must be obtained first.

Pete Rauch, chairman of the coalition’s technical committee and general manager of Monett’s utilities, said the coalition does not want reservoirs built.

“It’s not a high priority of our members,” he said. “It would be much better to pursue water that is already caught.”

The coalition has approached the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to see whether discretionary water might be available from Table Rock Lake or Stockton Lake. The coalition also has inquired about water from Grand Lake of the Cherokees. The water would be moved by pipeline to a water distribution system that would serve stakeholders in the project.

The corps told the coalition it would be five to seven years before any action on the request could be expected. Rauch said the coalition decided to keep the reservoir option open should the corps say no to its request.

“What we are doing now is taking little steps,” he said. “We’re a long, long way from a solution.”

But Rutledge said, “A reservoir has to be done at some point in the future. The current demand is depleting ground water. There is nowhere near enough to meet the future need. Surface water is still needed.”

Critics have said water conservation could forestall the need for a reservoir. The coalition said conservation is a step that will automatically happen as the demand for water puts pressure on existing resources, but it will not be enough to serve the region’s projected population of 500,000 in 2050. That population, with conservation measures in place, will need an additional 100 million gallons of water per day.

Monett, which gets all of its water from 13 wells, is among the more vulnerable communities if water supplies should run low then. It does not have a nearby creek or river from which it can obtain water. In the drought of 2005-2006, the city had to lower three of its pumps because the water table had fallen.

Joplin, Neosho, Springfield and Lamar get their water from surface sources. Virtually every other community in the region gets water from the ground.

If a reservoir is constructed on Shoal Creek, Rauch said, Monett would most likely build a pipeline to it.

Rauch said the study should not be misconstrued to mean the coalition has made a commitment to a reservoir. The study was designed to identify the order of magnitude in terms of costs, environmental permitting and relocation of property owners. Also to be taken into consideration are the costs associated with constructing a dam, acquiring land and cost of transmission.

Said Rauch: “We are looking for long-term water. What we have found is that there is no short-term fix or easy fix.”

Rauch said funding is needed for a more detailed analysis of the sites and how they relate to individual municipal and industrial water needs in the region. The coalition is to be reshaped, and a full-time director will be hired to pursue the coalition’s objectives.